RP: YSS Eucharis [Pre Mission 26] Getting Settled In (YE 38)

YSS Eucharis Tour Group:

Following the deposit of corpses, Shiho fell in line with the other new recruits to go through Tsuguka's tour of the ship. Her belongings once more taken up and slung over her back, she seemed to almost instantly sink back into looking somewhere between hungover and depressed the moment they had boarded and left their commanding officer outside the ship. Through the little tour they were given, there was a few times she would snap back to standing tall when she felt that Tsuguka was paying attention to her, but she at least seemed less wary around ranking infantry... Especially after Tsuguka admitted that they were all ultimately Suites' underlings.

The ship was... Something. Lavish decorations, fancy stuff all about. Shiho had to try in order to vaguely remember that this was the ship under command of Ketsurui Hanako. So they were literally flying in Royalty style here, some small amount of the sag in her broad shoulders was relieved that this was at least some sort of step up... But one glimpse up the stairs from the crew lounge to the wardroom had her spy the ceiling covered in paintings of said royal family, to which Shiho's face practically screamed 'Seriously?'

She had never felt so... Proletarian before.

But the tour went on, and then ground to a bit of a halt as Tsuguka talked about a fruit being a veteran in the galley. Shiho blanked on it for a moment before her mind wrapped around exactly what was being said. It was the galley, so there would be fruit in there: Yes. Was this an inside joke? Did someone kill a Misshu with a mango during the battle of Yamatai? Did it get promoted afterwards? Was the fruit on this ship notoriously bad for eight years straight? Maybe there was someone literally named Mango, who could be a terrible person... But who names someone after a fruit?

...Was she joking?

Oh...

Shiho's face split into a bit of a grin, before failing to hold back a laugh which only wound up escaping through her nose as an ungraceful snort. She clapped her hand to her face, almost stopping herself; but the seal was broken now. Might as well enjoy it.

Tsuguka was sort of charming in her own way, apparently.

Junko relaxed a little as Freyja and Tsuguka seemed to make nice. That was honestly the largest worry she had for the unit. Rifts between sisters were unpleasant enough. A gap between a senior and a junior would have been exaggerating the issue.

The tour of the Eucharis settled any opinions she might have made earlier. This was obviously the pride of the Yamatai fleet and whomever designed it was well aware. They'd wanted the iconic warship not only to represent the Empire, but to impress. Junko hadn't even known a warship this well furnished existed.

"I can take one of the sleeper pods." Junko volunteered. She didn't need much space, only having the one change of clothes outside army equipment. Someone probably would have benefit more from the comfort of a cabin, anyways. In all likelihood, she'd be spending almost all her time in the armor bay.

"Will we need to man the armor bay once the ship begins takeoff?"

YSS Eucharis Tour Group, Crew Lounge

Huh. Somebody actually laughed at one of her exaggerations. Maybe this humor thing wasn't such a lost cause after all.

"Depends what readiness condition that Shosho Ketsurui orders. The power armor bay is intentionally placed nearby." Tsuguka responded to Junko simply, arcing a hand back towards the vertical corridor. "Straight across, one floor down, past the medical room. Our mindy fours will need to be taken out of their wrapping paper, regardless. I'll have to speak to Suites-Heisho."

A broody sideways glance told of her establishing a wireless connection to her superior almost immediately.

~"Candon, sir. I trust there were no complications?"~ A couple of missing fingers didn't seem like something that would have slowed him down in the past, so she kept the tone simple. ~"If Victory-Heisho has finished loading the team's new Pee-Aaes, it seems like a good a time as any to start unpacking them. Unless you wanted to make a formal introduction, I suppose."~

YSS Eucharis - Cargo Bay

A mind backup... Sigurd flinched internally. Up to right now he had somehow always managed to avoid getting that order. He acknowledged that order silently with a short nod, which in itself was a sign of his turbulence for rule stickler that he was he wouldn't normally leave the vocal acknowledgement. Absentmindedly he then walked towards the hatch leading further into the ship while he thought about what to do about it.

He certainly wouldn't discuss the matter with the shôshô here in front of everybody and his dog. Just ignoring the order didn't work either. First he would never do that and second Taharial would almost certainly report to the shôshô if he wouldn't show up.
Maybe he should discuss the matter with the first officer. Yes, that's what he should do. It was the XO's job to deal with personal issues of the crew after all. Among other things.

So Sigurd stopped on his way to look for and approach Taii Yamashiro. "Ma'am", he addressed her. "May I... may I have a word in private, please?"

Primitive Polygon said:

YSS Eucharis Tour Group, Crew Lounge

Huh. Somebody actually laughed at one of her exaggerations. Maybe this humor thing wasn't such a lost cause after all.

"Depends what readiness condition that Shosho Ketsurui orders. The power armor bay is intentionally placed nearby." Tsuguka responded to Junko simply, arcing a hand back towards the vertical corridor. "Straight across, one floor down, past the medical room. Our mindy fours will need to be taken out of their wrapping paper, regardless. I'll have to speak to Suites-Heisho."

A broody sideways glance told of her establishing a wireless connection to her superior almost immediately.

~"Candon, sir. I trust there were no complications?"~ A couple of missing fingers didn't seem like something that would have slowed him down in the past, so she kept the tone simple. ~"If Victory-Heisho has finished loading the team's new Pee-Aaes, it seems like a good a time as any to start unpacking them. Unless you wanted to make a formal introduction, I suppose."~

Click to expand...

~"Go ahead and get them settled, I need a minute."~ Candon replied.

YSS Eucharis Tour Group, Crew Lounge

A mirthless thumbs up gesture was made towards Junko, Freyja and Shiho.

"You can meet me in the armor bay, once you've found a place and stored your things." A quick headcount was then made, before the red nekovalkyrja realized a rather glaring oversight. "...Oh, and if somebody could find and repeat this all this to Santo Hei Astridr, that would be much appreciated."

Instead of walking away they just floated off, dragging the tips of their toes against the carpet. Apparently Tsuguka was showing them her 'at ease' persona, because they also began to neurotically hum the chorus to an orchestral waltz under their breath.

It was a bit creepy.

YSS Eucharis
Cargo Bay

"I understand, Thank you for joining us during the last mission. Once you find some invnnestors for your business, let me know and I will put in a good word. I will mail you with some people who helped me get my vineyard started, since they will be interested in agriculture ventures." Hanako told Marcus. When he offered her the blue stone, she accepted it slowly and with both hands.

"Welcome aboard, Yuuki-Hei, Oshiro-Hei," Hanako saluted the two newly-transferred soldiers. "Please get your things stowed and get you power armor prepared. Also stop by the medical lab for an a standard exam and mind backup. We will be lifting off shortly."

Meanwhile, outside, the ambulance shuttle departed with the bodybags, disappearing into the sky.

A rumble filled the air outside the ship as the aether engines glowed orange and then changed into a bright teal color, at a low idle.

Cherry, one of the technicians, came around into view of the cargo ramp after doing the final walk-around inspection as part of the pre-flight checks, and then stood on the cargo ramp, just as it lifted off the ground, with the ship coming to a hover slightly above the old hanger's concrete floor. Slowly the ship began to slide further and further out of the hangar and towards the open tarmac.

"I will be on the bridge if anyone needs me," Hanako announced and went up there, zipping through the zero-gravity passage like a rocket.

YSS Eucharis Tour Group, Crew Lounge.

By the looks of things, once Shiho caught on to whatever was happening with Tsuguka, she had a hard time stopping. Even after failing to compose herself entirely, Shiho kept her mouth drawn to a tight line and shook slightly with stifled chuckles... The thumbs up, and then the floating off. It was so weird, but also harmless enough... And no one was stopping her. And they forgot someone as well, oh wow.

"Okay. Wow. I bet she eats her sandwiches one ingredient at a time..." she said, trundling over; stowing her backpack and duffel bag into the crew sleeper pods, not wanting to sort through cabinmates. Shiho shifted her weight as the ship moved around them. "Seems nice, though."

Better weird than vicious. She thought to herself, maybe this was a real step up.

Junko saluted and practically bounced on her way. They were really going to get her mitts on a Mindy Four! The latest combat ready armor model! Only thing better was if they pulled something out of the skunkworks for her to play with!

Junko made an agreeable noise to Shiho. She chose a pod relatively near her fellow infantry. Just put up her name, got her bags settled down for now. She could make a home of it later, after she'd gotten the essentials done.

Then she headed right for the armor bay. She could head to medical for the backup when they were done. Plus, if she were to try for a backup right now, the excitement would just create too much thought noise. Generally better to have a backup with immediate concerns tied up.

"A Mindy Four! You wouldn't believe the things I've heard about them!" Junko gushed excitedly on the way. "The first armor scale photonics array! Faster teleportation module! Even an improved power plant!"

YSS Eucharis
Cargo Bay

Picking up her bag, Oshiro Masumi headed up. Her pink hair rose up and buoyed out as she entered the zero gravity passageway. She followed closely behind those that the Shosho had addressed.

Ketsurui Hanako, had of course, addressed Masumi, as well as the others there, and there was reassurance in that for Masumi. There was no further validation needed for her today. She thought about finding a place in the vertical cabins that she had seen on the ship’s layout data, now that she had made the most important introduction of all. But there was something holding her back. She looked over her shoulder at the Santo Hei that she had seen speak quickly with the Shosho. He was in the brilliant green of science, like her, and was likely headed up to the sakura-type med lab, where she should be going. There was no social bone in her body, anymore, and she turned back around, before he could notice her glancing. The look on his face was too much for her to not recognize as something extreme, though. It made her turn around.

She recognized his need to speak with somebody, that being the Shosho, and misconstrued it to mean he wanted to talk to anybody. Her brow furrowed as she thought about all of the times she had missed her friends from boot camp, all of the lonely days, and felt something for him that she hadn't felt for somebody before, and that was empathy.

She bowed her head gently and said to him, "I am Oshiro Masumi, Santo Hei positioned on the Eucharis from here on out. I'll be honest with you, I'm not too excited about doing this mind backup alone, would you mind doing yours with me?" she asked, hoping to elicit a response.

YSS Eucharis - Armor Bay

Mind backed up, and dressed in a familiar pair of coveralls and Eucharis ball cap, the resident mechanic was having a less enthusiastic reaction to the new armor.

Not because of it's technical specs, but because, well...

"Aw come on! Why does infantry get all the new toys?!" Jax whined aloud, glancing back over at his own, older Mindy with its unique ear and tail slots. Currently, he sat perched atop a munitions crate, face buried in schematics for the several new, gleaming sets of armor stacked neatly in their ports.

"...Er, budget cuts...?" his FAR suggested from over his shoulder.

"Bullshit!" the cat-man-thing scowled with a cross of his arms. Then, a thought struck him, and his eyes widened. "OR...!"

"I swear, to the creator above, do not say it!" the robot groaned.

"The omnipotent sci-fi geeks that control our lives are intentionally screwing with me!" Jax snarled, raising his fist to the sky and shaking it angrily, once again cursing the imaginary creators that were the brainchild of a long stint in Engineering with no supervision.

YSS Eucharist
Zero Gravity Passageway

Seeing the scientist was busy, Masumi made her way to what was the med lab. She didn't spot the medic, but began letting her eyes go over the sterile surfaces that she had grown to want so badly to work on.

She looked around and, not spying the med personnel, spoke to the AI.

"How are you doing today?"

Cargo Bay

Natsumi had been at work with a volumetric window when Sigurd came up to her. The snowy haired neko saved her work and closed out the window and turned her full attention to them.

"Yes, of course, we can speak in my cabin if you need to talk somewhere private" she said and gestured for him to walk with her.

She did not have an office, but the XO cabin worked fine to fill in.

YSS Eucharis - Cargo Bay

"Thank you, ma'am", Sigurd replied and then followed the XO a bit nervously towards her cabin without saying as much as a word.

XO's Cabin

Once they arrived at Natsumi's cabin and were inside, she sealed the door to afford them some privacy.

"Have a seat" she said, offering Sigurd the desk chair and herself leaning against the bulkhead, her red eyes studying the young man for a moment. He was nervous about something, it was plain on his face.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, smiling pleasantly.

YSS Eucharis - XO's Cabin

"I...", Sigurd started after he sat down and stopped right away feeling his heart beating in his chest like a sledgehammer. What was he thinking? The XO would just laugh about the stupidity of his beliefs an order him to have his mind backed up anyway. Give him a good ticking off about questioning his superiors orders by the way. But what should he do? He could hardly just stand up saying "Nevermind" after having asked for this conversation in the first place.
Godsdamned, Sigurd, get it over with!
"I have concern... or is that the right word?..." he stammered then took a deep breath to focus. "I have concern about the skipper's order. I... I never had my mind backed up, ma'am."
There it was.
"Nor do I want to", Sigurd added feebly.

YSS Eucharis - Sleeper Module

Tsuguka's thumbs up surprised Freyja, but she returned the gesture. She was a little disappointed that neither of her former friends from Orochi asked her to share a cabin until she realized they were all listed as taken.
As happy as she was to be here she wasn't ready to share a cabin with a stranger. Noticing Junko's choice of pods, she decided to take the one beside hers. She started to say something as she put her bags down, but Junko had disappeared to the armor bay. "I think Junko-hei's a little excited," Freyja said to Shiho with a laugh.

Deciding to follow Junko, Freyja hurried to catch up with her. She reached her just in time to hear the excited Nekovalkyrja listing the new Mindy's improvements. "Your enthusiasm is adorable Junko-hei." She said as she walked up beside her. "I am glad you and Shiho-hei are here with me. I would be nervous if you weren't."

Sleeper Pods to Armor Bay:

Shiho stepped in behind her fellow infantry nekos, taking up the walk with a little sigh. She could honestly not care less about the new Mindy model. It was probably a very impressive war machine, but it was also very likely to one day contain her own corpse... And then once again it was a long fight in her own head over whether or not this counted as cowardice or not. It was good to be brave, but it wasn't brave to always do things you hate to do. Then again, looking at the backs of Freyja and Junko; Shiho just had to realise she felt honestly more than anything that she was just trying to keep them safe for now.

Who knows what sort of messed up mission they were on this time? Ugh. Put a good face on it Shiho.

"Too nervous to confront your beloved Hanako-sama all alone?" Shiho had a way of making honorifics sound like insults.

Cargo Bay Ramp/Cabin 5

Marcus nodded in response to Hanako, then watched her disappear into the ship. He climbed on board to retrieve his belongings, though not as quickly as the Shosho or new recruits. As he made his way to Cabin 5, he nodded politely to the collection of new blood he saw. He knew he stood out. He was much taller and broader than anyone else on the ship. Plus, he wasn't wearing clothes fitting to anyone in this universe, at all, much less a Star Army uniform.

He made note of the various expressions on their faces. Some were excited. Some were nervous. Others seemed overwhelmed. Whatever the case, he hoped none of them would have to see the types of things he'd seen during his short time on the gunship. He'd seen this crew thrown into some of the worst circumstances any of them had faced. He saw them on the brink of death...and some of them over it. They, in turn, saw the same of him. He burned with a desire to help the crew of the Eucharis. As he entered the cabin and began collecting his things, he actually had to fight off the urge to stay on board.

"That's not why you're here, Marcus." He told himself. "You can help them more by doing what you came to do."

Zero G Passage -> Power Armor Bay

Tsuguka took pause for a moment to turn around, observing the formidable shape of Marcus Rodia's back floating upwards. He didn't seem to realize she even existed, but that was okay. Too many awkward memories. No way of ascertaining whether this version of the man would even remember her acting as his parachute above the Graxlat junkyard, before he had so brazenly given his life for the good of the crew. He might have been up and walking once more, but that was the going rate for death these days.

Can't be helped. She'd just have to protect her friend's 'brother' better, if things came to that.

Dragging herself past the lockers and towards the racks of fresh new armor sets, she just glossed over her malcontentedness, and met Jackson Howard-Hei with deployment of a standard issue smile. Then immediately began removing her jacket and skirt.

"You think a Zesuaium flail would work as a weapon, Jax-hei? The kind with a ball and chain, I mean?" Small talk. She knew that he was still squeamish about the whole Yamataian nudity thing, but was eager to get back into her type-22 bodysuit so that the precisely measured Mindy 4 would have the best fit possible. It beat hoping in and out of her Mindy 2 stark naked, like in the old days. "Seems like an actual blade is getting a little redundant considering the forces we are working with, no?..."

Removing the plastic sheeting and sending a mental command to boot up the OS, Tsuguka looked around for a clasp that would open the chest armor. Eventually she just waited for the software installation procedures to zip through their setup processes, before sending the command telepathically, then observing the central panel snap forwards and downwards.

It felt strange. Same warm squishy interior, but more weight around the back and hips. The oni-neko snapped on the helmet and absorbed her first gasp of that new power armor smell.

Outside, the blue-white armor stood up straight just as the new infantry members began to arrive, and then began performing some rather strange holographic feats almost immediately. The first experiment was, ironically, with masking the projector's own hazy blue glow. After a second the armor became transparent, all but invisible save for that tell-tale glassy silhouette. The third was a low resolution Tsuguka, building up slightly in terms of resolution over time. Hard to tell if the doll-like uncanny valley expression on her face wasn't animating correctly, or if that was just her actual expression.

"Familiarize yourself, if you like." She regarded Junko first, as the enthusiastic soldier had arrived rather before the rest of her team mates. "Just don't activate the combined field system. It's gone back to the pre-M-2-2-D setup where it will be harmful to flesh."

Squatting down, Tsuguka jabbed a few fingers at the inch and a half of empty space between her feet and the floor. It looked like she was constantly levitating just a tiny bit... Why did the armor need such pointy boots? This was problematic.